Is the Middle East Becoming More Important to the Premier League?

The premier league attracts the best players from all around the globe, and whilst players of Arab and Middle Eastern descent haven’t historically been seen in great numbers in England’s top division, there are more and more stars of this ilk in today’s game who have brought their talents to top English clubs. Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Saleh, who won the FWA and Premier League player of the season award in 2017/18, is the cream of the crop in terms of Arab players currently plying their trade in England, but he certainly isn’t the only one of note putting in exciting performances for a big club.

Mohamed Elneny, another Egyptian, has been a staple of Arsenal’s squad over the past 5 seasons, whilst Trezeguet of Aston Villa, and West Ham’s Said Benrahma have also been impressive signings. Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech was a big money signing last season, arriving from Ajax for £33.3 million, and was a key contributor in the club’s resurgence under Thomas Tuchel, playing 39 times in all competitions and scoring 6 goals, including the winner in the FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City. Ziyech was a part of the champions league winning squad that are second favourites to win the premier league this season at 5/1 odds, which will certainly attract punters as football betting in the UK ramps up with the new season almost here.

Better scouting and greater awareness of the game globally has certainly helped to get more middle eastern players to the premier league of late, and one only has to look back a decade or even less to see how rare it used to be to see these players in England’s top division. Former Sunderland, Hull City and Aston Villa right-back Ahmed Elmohamady played in the premier league for a decade on and off, but he was often one of the only players of middle eastern descent featuring on a weekly basis.

Former Wigan and Oman goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi was another who graced the premier league in the early 2010’s, whilst former Arsenal and Crystal Palace striker Marouane Chamakh plied his trade in England between 2010-2016. There are plenty more household names that play for England’s top clubs these days though, with Salah being one of the best players in the league over his time at Liverpool, winning the golden boot twice and helping them to their first premier league title in 2019/20.
Elneny, Benrahma, Ziyech, Trezeguet, as well as three-time premier league winner Riyad Mahrez, are also genuinely top players for their respective teams. The influx of these players to the premier league is hardly likely to slow down either as more and more of them are scouted by Europe’s top clubs at a young age and brought over to league’s where they have the eyes of the world on them. Even if they aren’t initially noticed by premier league sides, their performances in France, Belgium, Spain or Turkey will get them noticed eventually.

The desire of these players to come over the Europe is also a key reason why there will likely only be more young middle eastern stars in the premier league in the years to come, as well as the notoriety of these current stars motivating youngsters in their home countries to take up football and believe that they can make it to the very top of the game.

Big Spenders

The money that is being poured into middle eastern leagues, in particular in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is also creating the chance for top players to go and play their football in the middle east. Big name players are being lured by huge contracts to clubs like Al Sadd and Al Rayyan SC in the Qatar stars league, and Al-Ahli Jeddah in the Saudi Professional league. Xavi, Lauren Blanc and Leonardo Jardim have all been recruited to manage these clubs, adding to the star power around the leagues, and there are a plethora of recognisable star names playing in both of these leagues right now.

Former Barcelona and Brazil star Paulinho, Ghana’s Andre Ayew, ex-Spurs defender Toby Alderweireld, and former Arsenal star Santi Cazorla, are all playing in Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the moment, and there are plenty more big names there too. This bodes well for the level of the game in these countries, and if they can continue to offer players enormous wage packages and secure more lucrative broadcasting deals to show their matches in western countries, their leagues could make a bigger dent into Europe’s talent pool and compete to be the locations that players want to go to in years to come. At the moment, most of the bigger names that go and play in Qatar or Saudi Arabia do so nearer the end of their careers, but if these teams can start luring younger players over then they could seriously start becoming genuinely star packed. Former West Brom winger Matheus Pereira, an exciting premier league player last season, moved to Saudi club Al Hilal in this summer transfer window, choosing them over interest from West Ham and Aston Villa which is a big deal if it starts a train of similar signings taking talent away from the premier league.

To Conclude

Clearly there are more and more middle eastern players gracing the premier league today than ever before, and they’re making a huge impact at big clubs, with some even amongst the very best in Europe. This is fantastic to see, and with greater scouting networks and more role models for youngsters to look up to in their home nations, the next decade of middle eastern stars that we see playing in England should be even larger. 

Sources:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/top-10-middle-east-footballers-2020

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1736581/sport

https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/top-10-middle-eastern-footballers-europe-today

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/matheus-pereira-transfer-west-brom-24704120